What she's done
by honeyshot
Summary: Being in love is difficult for a Slytherin. And as the heat builds between Draco and Hermione, Hermione has to decide.
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1: Trying shouldn't be a one person effort_

He always did put himself in destructive situations. For exactly 2 years straight, Draco had been in love. He was completely entranced and to be honest, time was cruel to him. He saw her every day, almost as if she's waiting at every meeting place for him, never allowing him to escape. His heart would race at just the thought of seeing her. For real. The Gryffindork. Granger. Her.

Scowling, he stopped staring at the back of her delicate chestnut waves and looked down at his parchment and noticed he had spelt 'cauldron' wrong...twice. It was an uncomfortably hot afternoon and unfortunately, the Slytherins and Gryffindors had been forced to go to a Charms classroom for their Potions lesson as a stupid second year had managed to melt all the desks with her catastrophic brew. The sunlight was pouring through the glass next to him, burning the side of his neck. Rubbing it, Draco glanced up, to see Hermione turn round slightly to bend down gracefully towards her bag. For the millionth time, he reminded himself about how beautiful she was. She had large chocolate eyes, full of wonder and ambition. Her skin was always clear and she had high cheeks and pouting full lips. She was perfect and distinctly out of place among such normal looking people. Hermione then looked up at her dense friends and smiled at something unimpressively sarcastic Weasel-bug said to get her attention. Snorting with repulsion, Draco stooped his head down again, avoiding her questioning glare that he felt blazing into his face.

He shot his eyes up, grey meeting brown. He sneered then pouted his lips and tilted his head, illustrating her expression, allowing his white blonde hair to graze over his strong gorgeous face. She just widened her eyes slightly and turned back round, ignoring the insinuating grin that he flashed at her. He used to like making her uncomfortable; a sultry implying smile was all that was needed. But he didn't like it being this way anymore. She just clings to his conscience; everywhere and all the time. It was worse when he saw her gliding towards him in the corridors. He'd hold his breath and watch her. His face would heat up as her hair would bounce effortlessly as his hands would ball into fists. Someone could jinx him and he wouldn't notice. It was almost a trance. He was powerless around her.

When the bell went, Potter and Weasley left to go towards their own lesson. Before he could stop himself his eyes trailed after Granger longingly as she strolled towards Professor Snape. Draco mentally slapped himself for being so pathetic.

He felt a murmur in his left ear, and turned to see Pansy's pointy wondering face beaming at him. He murmured, telling her to go and she obliged, as usual.

Suddenly, when he heard the door slam as Snape left, he realised; they were alone in the room. The stuffy air was more noticeable, the walls seemed a lot closer and the disturbance of other people's breath was missing. The atmosphere was different…and they both felt it. Hermione kept glancing up to see why Malfoy was still in the room, and when she found no explanation, she hurriedly struggled to pack her bag that was already too full. Draco chuckled slightly, loving how cute this small imperfection was. Granger was slightly red in the face, either from the heat…or from Draco's presence…She was biting her lip for some reason, and Draco mirrored this small action. He was just watching her. The way she posed and could not quite keep still so kept swaying slightly on the spot. He repeatedly opened his mouth, like Weasley, trying to think of something clever to say; Draco was close to the edge.

Granger began to sway past, pretending to disregard his presence. And suddenly a new wave of strange alien inspiration came over Draco. He grasped her elbow gently whilst looking over her head, and only looked at her when he had spun her round to look at him. Grey met brown.

He stuttered "It's difficult." He began to lean towards her face. She didn't move. "You're all…" He paused to take in how close they were. Her eyes didn't show terror or anything; just confusion and a breath of curiosity. They were almost nose to nose and she was blinking widely. Then he continued. "…you're all I think of, all of the time. And not having you has messed me up."

Her eyes widened at the words. She still didn't say anything. A split second later she began to pull away but Draco grabbed both of her wrists, then pressed his forehead against hers whilst closing his eyes and breathing in deeply. She smelt not only like the apple Draco had watched her eat at breakfast but also a faint rosy perfume. It intoxicated him, making him sway a little but he still held her close.

"Don't" he breathed as she fidgeted again. He held her in place; their bodies were so close and perfectly in line with each other. They were both breathing deeply, dizzy from the heat streaming through the windows. He opened his eyes again to see her looking directly at him. It was killing him, burning, that she had tried to pull away. "Don't" he repeated quietly. She just shook her head, looking at him through unearthly blank eyes. She pulled away, so much that now the only thing linking their bodies now were his hands grasping her wrists, never wanting to let go. He let go. He let her go.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2: Don't pretend you're not watching._

When Hermione walked into the Entrance Hall the next morning, her head instinctively turned towards the dungeons, almost expecting to see a tall blond figure watching her. She halted and continued staring down the cold grey stops, remembering what had happened the previous afternoon.

***

When Hermione left the classroom yesterday, she began telling herself what happened was simply a hallucination from the heat, something she often did when something is easier to not to think about. The pain in her wrists from him holding her too tight was just her imagination and her heart was only accelerating because she was practically running to get to her Arithmancy lesson on time. However, Hermione decided she might as well slow down since she was already five minutes late and she couldn't even concentrate enough to see where she was heading. This was very out of her character but Hermione could not care less. She didn't feel like herself, her head spinning, processing every detail. She breathed in deeply as she walked through an area of the corridor that was engulfed in shadows. She thought about what Malfoy had told her. Now that Hermione thought about it (as she turned a corner into a area of the castle with red satin folding and flowing neatly down from the ceiling), she remembered that she had often noticed Draco staring at her since the beginning of term but she had decided it was simply him trying to annoy her or glare at her …she must have been very wrong then.

When she turned another corner, Hermione saw she was at the foot of a swirling red staircase. She looked through the arched window to her right only to see a view of the forest. She knew at this point that she had managed to lead herself to the wrong side of the castle. Groaning she turned around and ran in the opposite direction.

When Hermione entered the classroom red faced and panting, Professor Vector looked up from the book he had been reading to give her a very concerned and confused look.

"Miss Granger? Are you quite alright?" he asked.

Smiling slightly, Hermione replied "Lost track of time sir. Definitely won't happen again."

Smiling back, the Professor indicated a seat in the back corner. Hermione turned, her hair swinging around to her front and began to walk towards her seat but slowed down slightly, her smile turning into a feeble blank expression, as she saw the good-looking blond Slytherin sitting next to her allocated chair. He was fixated on a poster on the wall to his left but did not seem even slightly interested in the symbols chart on it. As Hermione carefully sat down and took her things out her bag, his head moved slightly at an angle, and although he seemed to be looking at the Professor, Hermione knew he was actually watching her from the corner of his eye. Hermione noticed how tense he was; his hands were clenched so tightly that her knuckles were white; he was biting his lip and stooping over his desk. Plus, a slight amount of colour had appeared on his cheeks.

Professor Vector began to explain the various things they had to copy from the book onto their notes and said he did not expect any talking. Hermione straightened up, grabbed her new yellow tipped, purple and white print quill and began to write. Draco did nothing. He just watched her and never looked straight at her when she glanced at him. Hermione kept fidgeting, feeling extremely uncomfortable, and found it strange that Malfoy was so unnerved by how awkward Hermione was acting.

When only a minute was left until the end of the lesson, Draco bent down swiftly to snap open his bag from which he pulled out a small piece of parchment. Hermione watched him as he leaned over the table to tap Blaise Zabini on the shoulder, who turned round and looked at Draco questioningly. Instead of speaking, Malfoy snatched Blaise's quill straight out his hand, paused as his face screwed with concentration, perhaps thinking what to write. Then he scribbled something onto the parchment and threw the quill back at Zabini, who turned shaking his head slightly. Malfoy tapped his parchment with his wand, causing it to glow pink then returned back to normal before he ripping it into pieces, and then throwing them into the air. The bell went as he grabbed his bag, not looking at Hermione once while he rapidly left the room. As Hermione just began to pack her things, the small pieces of parchment sucked back together, reforming in front of her. Hermione picked up the parchment and read what Malfoy had written.

_"…I like your quill…"_

Hermione rolled her eye, smiling with amusement but frowned again instantly whilst grabbing the parchment and tearing it up, telling herself not to think about him.

***

Seeing quite clearly that Malfoy was not approaching, Hermione turned to grin at Harry and Ron who had been watching her inquisitively. She walked along side them into the Great Hall which was packed with students who bustling happily because the unbearable heat wave was over. Hermione didn't move her eyes from the Gryffindor table until she had sat down and pulled a bowl of grapes towards her.

When she was settled, she looked up directly at Malfoy, as if her eyes were magnetized to his exact seat somehow. He froze when she looked at him even though his glazed faraway eyes were on the table in front of him but carried on ripping his toast into small pieces. He hadn't slept. She could tell. With every stolen glance she risked towards him, the darker the circles seemed to be under his eyes, disturbing his usually perfect face.

She couldn't concentrate. She tried to carry on reading her Transfiguration notes that she had propped up against her bowl of grapes on the table, but failed. Whilst swiftly turning towards the cereal, she managed to knock a milk jug all over her notes. She stood up instinctively and watched the milk drip to the floor and saw, with amazement, that her notes had not absorbed any of the milk. She assumed that she had put some sort of shield around them to prevent damage. She was about to sit down again, when she second guessed herself. Looking up, she saw Draco watching her, and his wand held tightly in his hand, pointing directly at her pieces of askew papers on the table in front of her…of course he had been watching her. She just tensed her eyebrows, grabbed the pile of papers, flung her bag over her shoulder and made a hasty leave, ignoring the questioning looks she was getting from her friends.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3: We both took a chance_

Draco was leaning against a table in the dim dungeons next to Blaise Zabini, who had begun eating an apple as he had missed breakfast. As Draco had ten minutes before the lesson would commence, he was trying to do the buttons on the cuffs of his shirt whilst leaning against a table. His hands were shaking slightly, as he watched Granger enter with Weasley, deep in discussion about something written on the parchment Weasley was holding. They were followed closely by Potter.

Granger had not given Draco the satisfaction of voluntarily looking at him in the eye for a whole week and Draco had not attempted to communicate with her further. As she spoke animatedly with the Weaselgit, Draco felt like a piece of heavy, unwanted realisation had struck him; this mad idea that Draco had let engulf him, that Granger could even consider looking at Draco differently, seemed very much nonexistent. A pain in Draco's forehead started to creep up on him, as it had done for the last few days. But a hopeful voice reminded him, that sometimes he was sure he could feel someone watching the back of his head.

When Draco gave up on his buttons and pushed his sleeves up instead, his headache did not improve as he felt his pulse started to pound heavily in his temple as he watched Granger continue to whisper with the Weasel. Draco scowled, squeezing his hands into fists, hating that Granger spoke to Weasley so affectionately, leaning close and making him laugh.

When Draco stood up from the table, his clouded instincts told him to go up to go up to Weasley and punch him in the face. Instead, he took out his wand and twisted it carefully in his hands. Wands do more damage.

As Granger placed her bag on the table and began to walk away from Weasley, he pushed the line. He had noticed a feather in her hair, reached up and pulled it out carefully as she walked, letting the tips of his fingers to run through her hair. Draco watched, filled with jealousy and rage, and suddenly slammed his left hand, containing his wand, onto the table. His wand sent out violent gold and black sparks as the table cracked in half directly where Draco wand hit it. Draco watched, sniggering as Blaise stumbled and made a heavy "umph" noise as he landed on the floor. He swore has he got up and hit Draco on the arm. Draco bent down to pick up his wand and realised a hand was already grasping it.

_Hermione had started to walk towards Draco, hoping to get a chance to speak to him. Then, she had seen him smash the table. Smiling slightly, she had bent down to get his wand for him but got heavily distracted as she met Draco's eyes for the first time in a while._

For the few moments he got to look at her so closely, she looked more than beautiful. Draco's memory had failed miserably for the past week whenever it had tried to make Hermione's angelic face appear in his mind. Her eyes were sparkling and she was smiling widely with polite amusement. She looked flustered and distracted by him and Draco's heart burned with an uncontrollable urge to reach out and stroke her face. When Snape walked into the room, Hermione was the first to get up abruptly and walk straight back to her table. As Draco also got up, he looked at Weasley. He knew that expression; jealousy and rage. Draco smirked as he turned round, repaired the table and sat back down to face Granger.

***

The shadows crept around the class and no noise was made apart from the delicate scratching of quills or odd sigh. Everyone worked with their heads down, shivering slightly as they once again copied bits of text from the book.

Draco kept stopping every time he finished a paragraph to watch Granger finish hers. Draco smiled slightly when he first noticed that this meant that he and Granger wrote at more or less the same pace, as Granger had began writing slightly after him. _'At least we have something in common.'_ he thought miserably.

When Draco finished his last paragraph, he sharply placed his quill back down on the desk, folded his arms and lent back on his chair, listening to it groan and creak. A mere ten seconds later, Granger dropped her snazzy quill next her inkpot and looked up at Draco with her wonderfully staged blank expression. It seemed like she was checking that he was watching her, before putting her hand up.

Snape murmured "what" in a bored, matter-of-fact tone, without looking up from his dull desk, scattered with various parchments. Granger asked whether she could be excused as she was needed at her Arithmancy lesson fifteen minutes early today. This was a complete lie and only Malfoy noticed. As she spoke, Malfoy noted she only looked away from him when she sensed Potter and Weasley look up at her questioningly.

"Does this affect anyone else in the class?" Snape drawled, uninterestedly. Malfoy took a big gamble as he raised his hand slowly, still watching Granger as she packed her bag. Weasel's eyes narrowed as he glowered at Malfoy but Granger's expression did not seem to change much but Draco swore that he noticed a slight soft knowing smile appearing as she continued to assemble her things.

Malfoy dragged his arm across the table cautiously to gather his various belongings, wanting to catch up with Granger as quickly as possible as she had already left but not without glancing back at Draco once more. Draco slipped his bag over his shoulder, panting heavily with anticipation as his heartbeat soured. He ignored Blaise's smirk as he sped out the room.


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4: Roses_

When Draco stepped into the grey, cold corridor, a stupid part of him expected to see Hermione standing against the wall outside, waiting for him. Draco hurriedly moved down the corridor towards the steps. His thoughts were practically shouting at him, telling him how pathetic he was for yet again savouring more small meaningless moments between himself and Granger.

As he ran up the hard stairs, tripping slightly, he noticed something unusual in the Entrance Hall. A faint smoky white line that started directly in front of him trailed across the Entrance Hall and into the Great Hall. When Draco stepped forward two steps inquisitively to watch the line turn and move tightly in different faint shades like normal smoke, it parted elegantly, as if his chest was a sharp knife. The two strips that appeared swirled slowly upwards before curdling into thin air. He knew that someone had made this line intending him to follow, and his heart began to thud unnaturally fast again when he realized who it must have been. Almost running, he followed the streak of smoke.

It went through the Great Hall that currently had no tables or benches. As Draco stepped through the vast space, his footsteps echoed overhead, making him glance around, thinking he'd see more people walking in the same direction. Looking up, he saw the blotted clouds churning and several streaks of sunlight pouring through some of them, causing the dingy hall to have several small areas filled with a circle of enchanted sunlight.

The wispy line lead to a side chamber through a short oak door, situated at the far end of the hall, behind where the staff table was usually placed. He entered a dark handsome room filled with charming portraits of past students and teachers, snoozing peacefully in their frames. A generous fire was roaring in front of him but even the warmth radiating onto his robes could cure his uncomfortable goosebumps on his arms. He stood motionlessly in the middle of the room, looking around to see if this was really where the line had ended. No one was in the room with him. No Granger. No one.

He was about to leave grumpily when a swooshing force caused him to glide elegantly across the room and into a side broom cupboard that he had over looked. The paintings blurred past him and Draco suddenly found himself in darkness. He staggered and crashed into a pile of various brooms and buckets, the noise echoing horribly in the small dark space. He watched the door shut and heard it bolt itself as he forced himself up, swearing under his breath because of the slight pain that had emerged on his back. He was breathing heavily, looking around the shadows. Out of the corner of his eye, Draco noticed a blue candle sitting on a high shelf light up. Then he saw her.

She was gazing at him through sparkling eyes of a wonderful blend of sapphire, from the candle, and chocolate. Her entire face had an eerie gorgeous blue glow to it, the creases in her robes and curls in her hair distinctly visible from the angle of the light. She stepped forward, also breathing heavily. Draco inhaled through his nose, smelling the burning candle and heavy stench of old wood but nearly fell over from the waft of her amazing rosy perfume. He cupped his hands behind Hermione's soft neck, feeling the curls graze against his hands.

He leaned closer and heard her whisper "we have a problem."

Draco sniggered, pressing his forehead against the top of Hermione's temple then rubbing the side of her nose with his own.

"A bit." he murmured before leaning forward a little further.

Draco moved his hands up her sleeves, stroking her skin. He used his thumb to caress her arm. He was still breathing deeply, taking in her scent, feeling as if rose petals were floating near his nose. Her eyes were closed but her eyebrows were very tense. She was thinking hard about something. Draco moved his other hand up and used the tips of fingers to trace a line above his eyes, smiling when she relaxed. He leaned his lips even closer to her and grazed her top lip slightly with his own but was unsure what to do when Granger gasped under her breath and pulled her face away a few inches.

Worse still, Draco felt a smooth hand cover his mouth and push his face back. Draco looked down at Granger, grey eyes clouded with confusion and burning anger. She was confused and upset as she gazed into space, muttering under her breath. Draco felt his face heat up with aggravation. This can't be it. They were so close just moments ago. He had just felt the heat of her lithe, perfect body radiating onto his own. The comfort was gone and the painful longing was back.

"I...I can't." She finally murmured, causing her eyelashes to flutter as she scanned the floor, avoiding Draco's eyes.

Draco continued to hold her but said slowly through clenched teeth "And you led me here because...?"

Hermione opened and closed her mouth, thinking before saying "I thought this was what I wanted. It's just... just way too complicated Malfoy."

Draco felt colour rise to his cheeks as anger over powered his judgement. He grasped Hermione and pushed her away from him and into the hard door. Through the faint light, he watched her stumble but then she held onto a shelf to help herself balance. Her eyes looked up at him. They were troubled and sparkling slightly but still explicably gorgeous. She was biting her trembling lip, obviously stopping tears from running down her lovely face. He wanted to hold her, console her and to Draco's great annoyance, it took every part of him to stop himself. He ran his hands through his hair, thinking of what to say. He then screwed his eyes and shouted when the confusion and build up became too much. He screamed "YOU PLAYER. YOU DRAG ME HERE, GIVE ME EVERY REASON TO BELIEVE WE WERE ABOUT TO HAPPEN - I MEAN, SOMETHING WAS ABOU-OR...I DON'T KNOW! BUT YOU WRECKED IT. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

Hermione's eyes watered more, leaking onto her bottom lashes slightly but her expression became blank. She said nothing as she continued to listen to his stupid impulsive rant.

"YOU HAVE NO BLOODY IDEA WHAT YOU MAKE ME GO THROUGH YOU, YOU...YOU **DISGUSTING** MUDBLOOD."

She stood up at this, staring at him. Granger waved her wand, unlocking the door and wiping the flame away. She walked out and closed the door, not looking at Malfoy again, allowing him to stand alone in darkness to tremble, smash everything he could reach and swear furiously at the top of his voice before sitting crossed legged on the floor. He sat there quietly for a long time, feeling extremely numb eventually, loosening the muscles in his handsome face but his hands were still shaking since he was so angry with Granger as well as himself. He listened to the echoes of the school as it bustled with life. The walls around him made the noises seem distant and sound hazy. Not wanting to leave and face Zabini's questions, he waved his wand continuously, conjuring one rose after another out of thin air so Hermione's scent could fill his world again.


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5: The fact is, I only know how to block the spells that come out your wand_

Blaise noticed Draco telling numerous concerned "friends" that the reason he had not being talking, eating or concentrating properly for the last week was because he was feeling rather ill. Malfoy had ignored their repetitive suggestions to go to Madam Promfrey. Blaise understood why.

He had not been talking properly because his voice was usually croaky and low as he was constantly restraining himself from moaning and holding back shouting and curses whenever he saw Granger in the corridors. She would simply gaze at him slightly before speeding up, tugging the arm of one of her two best friends.

Draco also had several faint burns marks on his left hand because he had a serious accidental magic problem when he was angry. Whenever he strolled down corridors, he always had his wand in his hand as he was probably waiting for an excuse to hex Weasley (who always seemed to have his arm around Granger whenever Draco was in proximity).

He had not been eating simply because Granger was always there to watch instead. Blaise had been summoning house elves into their dormitory and spent a few hours every night, begging Draco to eat. Malfoy would never speak when he listened to Blaise become angrier and angrier. Very reluctantly, he would slowly eat one of the dishes that were brought to him.

It is quite clear why he was having concentration problems.

***

When Draco entered his Defence Against The Dark Arts lesson, he was annoyed to see the Gryffindors lined up in front of the high windows. He knew this meant Granger was there somewhere though. He stepped into the classroom and leant against the back wall to the right of the door. He glanced around and listened to the whole class groan about the unfortunate arrangements. The teacher was quite oblivious so he cheerfully started telling the two houses about the purpose of today's lesson, with an unusually high-pitched voice that must have been tampered with permanently with magic.

The temporary professor explained how the two groups had been joined for this one off lesson to practise body curses and how to return their opponents into their usual state without speaking any incantations. Draco heard none of this since he was watching Granger trying to pull a leaf out of her hair. They were both standing on the outer edge of the group, furthest away from the Professor and with everyone's back to them. Draco watched her for a few moments, taking in how radiant she looked with the sunlight streaming in through the thick window behind her, shining around her small figure. She was struggling since the leaf was tangled deep in her mad waves.

While the teacher warned them about the charms preventing serious hexes (which received a large amount of groaning and swearing from the pupils), Hermione froze when she saw the leaf twitching. Quite astonished, she watched the leaf fold independently; making a soft crunching noise at it did so. The leaf now resembled a crispy brown origami bird. It fluttered its tiny wings and flew quite elegantly out of her hair. She watched, enchanted by the leafy textured bird, as it flew, with so much grace and life across the room. Then, it was sucked into a wand.

Before she could tell herself to stop, Hermione looked up at the owner of the wand and gazed shamelessly into the pools of grey that were watching her. Malfoy's eyes were wide open even though he had not slept much. He was gazing back at her, drinking in greedily at her state of awe and fascination. He was as pale as ever, hiding in the shadows from the sunlight pouring through the windows. He almost smiled at her.

The professor giddily said "The Headmistress is still exercising inter-House partnership so you'll be paired with the person -" he swished his wand manically "- opposite you."

There was a wonderfully symmetrical fluid motion throughout the room. Each house had been swung very elegantly, as though they were hovering over the floor, towards the other house, making it quite clear who their partners would be.

Draco was both extremely delighted and horrified to see he was with Hermione. Choosing very quickly how he was going to act around her, he beamed at her (and was ecstatic by the distracted and dumbfounded expression he received) and placed his hand on the dip of her back before pushing her towards the front. He felt a swooshing sensation inside him when she gasped involuntarily.

Each pair had walked through a giant wooden door that had appeared in the front of the room. When Hermione and Draco entered, the teacher squeaked "make sure you get plenty of practise! You haven't got long!" and shut the heavy door behind them.

The new air around them was a lot warmer than the classroom. Hermione stepped forward and took in the features of the quite small stony chamber they had entered. It was completely empty and had a beautiful white glow coming from the high ceiling which appeared to be a giant thick cloud.

The room echoed gently with every step she took. Malfoy watched her scan the chamber until she was on the other side of it. She turned on her heel to face him. They said nothing.

Out of nowhere, Granger bounded Malfoy's whole body tightly. Malfoy was rigid, with his arms stuck to his sides, making him unable to reach for his wand. Before he hit the floor however, she performed a hover charm, causing him to float in the air like a useless piece of wood. Still gripping her wand to allow him to continue to hover, she swished her wand briefly, releasing the total bind.

He smiled at her as he floated and said "Must be a pretty powerful hover charm, Granger." Still saying nothing, she continued to watch him with an air of curiosity, quite shocked that Malfoy did not end the hover charm himself. She also thought it was odd that she liked how dominant she felt.

Feeling cruel, she performed a hair thickening charm in her head and smiled when Draco moaned with annoyance when he saw streams of white blonde hair grow in front of his face. Her growing smile faded when he swished his wand, causing his hair to jerk strangely and then suck back into his head, returning to its usual perfect state.

Hermione dropped her arm and allowed Draco to fall to the ground with a sharp thud. She muttered "Off course you know the bloody spell concerning your hair…"

He smiled at this, rubbing his arm as he got up and said confidently "I'll know most of the reversal spells to anything you throw at me. The number of times Zabini tried to tamper with my good lucks, you have to know what to do."

Hermione rolled her eyes and then did a lot of curses, one after another without warning. Draco was flung upside down midair, hit with a pillow, jerked violently across the chamber, spun around (while still upside down), attacked by a flock of golden birds, hands stuck together, tongue tied, had a plant growing quite painfully out of the top of his head and turned red with gold stripes and as these were the Gryffindor colours, this caused him to swear repeatedly with anger.

Hermione did not laugh when she turned him back round and placed him gently back on the ground, his appearance completely normal again. He staggered dangerously so he held onto the side wall and started roaring with laughter.

Granger was breathing heavily and then shouted "SHOOT ME. NOW!"

Draco continued to laugh, eyes tight shut, his head lolloping around. Hermione jutted out her chin and waited impatiently.

When his laughing quietened a bit, she said slowly "…the POINT, of this is lesson is t -" but Draco interrupted her, smiling widely.

"What's the point? I mean, we ARE the best in year. This _practical _is a doss anyway. Stop being so bloody keen…"

Hermione narrowed her eyes and took a few stern steps towards him. He was still grinning but felt Goosebumps on his arms.

"I don't get you." She said, leaving a two metre gap between them.

Draco pushed off the wall and stood as normal and exhaled one long breath before retorting "I'll shed some light." He opened his mouth to continue but Hermione cut across him.

"You don't even know what I don't underst -"

"Aaaaaah. But I actually do." he said, smiling innocently. Hermione folded her arms, and waited, blinking repeatedly. His smile faded when he continued. He tensed his eyebrows as he concentrated on what he was saying and made sure it sounded right. He walked in a circle as he spoke, knowing that she'd mirror it. He stopped when she was the one with her back to the wall. "I don't want to throw any spells at you. I don't want to hurt you…even if it is only in a practical school situation."

He took four tiny steps forward before continuing, so he was standing right in front of her. Her crossed arms were almost touching him. The cold surface of the walls touched the back of her school jumper. She glanced at the small space between them before looking back up at Draco's deep grey eyes.

He sighed and asked, very frankly "Weasley told you about his _feelings_…didn't he?"

Hermione pouted subconsciously while she tried to look angry but Draco thought she still looked ridiculously gorgeous. "What's it to you?" she asked in a quiet stern voice, eyes narrowing again.

"Everything" Draco barely whispered as she unfolded her arms and looked away, looking uncomfortable. She looked back at him briefly before looking away again, as if something significant was written in the air behind him.

Draco pressed on. "But there's nothing there for you, is there?"

She sighed, and closed her eyes, tensing them very deeply. She said nothing.

"No…adrenaline rush…" Malfoy held her arm extremely lightly right above her wrist, causing her to gasp and look at him very suddenly as she felt a strong bolt shoot through her. "…when he touches your arm." He was barely speaking now; it was more like croaking.

She still said nothing. She watched him, inhaling his cologne when he leant forward, hovering over her face and almost felt his lips moving when he breathed "Don't fight it."

Replying wasn't an option, as she was silenced. He had closed the distance between them and pressed his lips hungrily against hers.

She gasped from the sudden movement, and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer. Draco pressed her firmly against the wall but kept the kiss gentle. He felt her wrap her leg behind his leg, drawing and forcing him even closer. Granger pressed her lips harder, licking Draco's bottom lip sharply. Draco opened his mouth, panting from the friction, as Hermione fought for dominance again. Draco had to lean into her, to stop himself from falling due to the dizzy feeling of amazement and want.

Draco had to keep reminding himself this was real. The situation was like one of Draco's distant delusions but all his senses were too wrapped round this moment for it to be a dream. Hermione kept moaning, holding him tighter, making Draco groan. He never wanted it to end.

A few minutes later, a loud echoing voice squeaked "TIMMMMES UP!" Draco stopped kissing Hermione to swear at the top of his voice and bang his head on the wall next to Hermione's head, who was laughing.

She unravelled her arms from his neck and unhooked her leg from the back his. Draco stepped back, panting heavily, and feeling that his lips were slightly sore. He held out his hand, which she took as they headed towards the door, footsteps echoing in the chamber.

In front of the thick wooden exit, Hermione wrapped her fingers round Draco's tie and pulled it sturdily to bend his face towards hers. She planted a kiss on his cheek. She then opened the door and walked straight through it without even a backwards glance, leaving Draco standing in the doorway blushing. Hermione glided through the crowd, to go stand with Harry who instantly began his story of how he had thwarted Goyle, not sensing anything unusual. Draco staggered awkwardly towards Zabini, who was sniggering like an idiot and only silenced when Draco kicked him in the shins.

***

The main difference from now on was that at various points of each day, both Draco and Hermione would disappear. Draco's friend's assumed he was strutting about the castle, giving students unneeded detentions and grief. Hermione's friend's assumed she was in the library, catching up with homework not due for weeks.

Plus, in every Arithmancy lesson, Granger, the headstrong, pretty and caring Gryffindor, would be secretly holding hands with Malfoy, an ambitious, handsome yet remote Slytherin.


End file.
